The Truth Will Set You Free
by Andrea Christine
Summary: A sixteen-year-old girl named Sydney Catherine accidentally discovers something about her family that will change her life forever.


The original Pretender characters do not belong to me. All new characters appearing in this story, including Sydney Catherine Charles, her brother Kyle and best friend Laura, are mine.  
  
  
  
The Truth Will Set You Free  
By Andrea Christine   
  
  
Friday, January 30, 2018  
Fort Collins, Colorado  
7:23 am  
  
Dear Diary,  
My name is Sydney Catherine Charles and today is my sixteenth birthday. The journal in which I'm writing was an early present from my brother Kyle. Until he gave me this gift, I never would have guessed that he knows how much I like to write. I simply love it. Someday I'm going to be a famous novelist, or screenwriter for the movies. But there is always music. Other times I just want to concentrate all I have on my music. Sometimes my friends think it's unusual that I spend so much time in the record shops, looking for the old jazz "vinyls", as they call them. But my best friends understand. You've got to be true to your art. And if I want to be a real jazz singer someday, I must listen to and learn from these recordings. They take me to another world.   
  
I've lived in Fort Collins, Colorado nearly all my life. My father, who is a doctor, moved our family here from Chicago not long after I was born, to start his own practice. My mother doesn't talk much about the time before moving to Colorado. Sometimes I've wondered why, but Dad said it's just because she never found a place that she felt was home until coming to Fort Collins. She runs the newspaper and a detective agency! Most girls' mothers are boring, but not mine. Everyone tells me I look just like her. We're both tall and have long, dark hair. The only difference is that I have brown eyes, like Dad, not blue like Mom's. My brother Kyle is so much like Dad... he is only thirteen and he already knows he wants to be a doctor, just like Dad. I'm three years older and have yet to decide! There's writing and jazz, and so much else I'd like to do. Oh, well. There's always time.  
  
"Sydney!" A voice called from downstairs. "We'd better get going or we're going to be late!"   
  
"I'm coming, Mom." Sydney closed her journal and laid her pen aside. She glanced at the clock on her desk, her dark eyes narrowing in confusion. It was only seven-forty. They never usually left until at least ten minutes from now. Who knows, Sydney thought. Maybe she has to be into her office early today.  
  
Sydney's parents were standing at the foot of the stairs, each holding a brightly wrapped box.  
  
"Happy birthday, Sydney!" Dr. Charles handed the gift to his daughter.   
  
"We thought you'd like to open a couple of them before school," Sydney's mother added.  
  
"Thanks!" Sydney started to unwrap the first package, which was a long, flat shape. The festive paper revealed a jazz album for which she'd been searching over the past several months.  
  
"Oh, wow, thanks, Dad! How did you ever find it? I've been looking and looking!"   
Dr. Charles smiled. "I had a little help from a colleague in Japan." Many of the rare records Sydney favored were all but impossible to find outside of Japan, where a number of vintage albums were pressed.  
  
"And now this one," Sydney's mother gave her a small box. Sydney unwrapped it to find a velvet jewelry box. Inside was a delicate, ornate gold ring with a sparkling diamond in the middle.   
  
Her mother watched with a small smile as Sydney put it on. "That ring belonged to your grandmother. It's a very special ring."  
  
"It was Grandmother Catherine's?" Sydney spoke the name as if it were sacred.  
  
"Yes," her mother nodded. "It looks perfect on you."  
  
"It's lovely!" Sydney hugged her parents and thanked them once again. "They're wonderful, I couldn't imagine anything better!" She admired the ring on her hand. She couldn't wait to show it to her best friend Laura, as well as all the other girls at school. She was sure they'd never seen a ring so elegant.  
  
A few minutes later, Sydney had arrived at her school, the exclusive White River Academy. Until a few years before, it had been strictly a girls' school, but now it also had boys. Most of the people were really nice, despite the snobby image. Sydney's best friend was a quiet girl with blonde hair named Laura. They had known each other since elementary school, as Laura's family lived down the block from Sydney's.  
  
"Happy Birthday, Syd!" Laura was waiting for her by the locker they shared. "This is for you." She gave Syd a present.  
  
"The DVD we saw at the mall!" Sydney exclaimed when she opened the package. "Thanks so much!" She gave her best friend a hug.  
  
"You're welcome," Laura replied. "Come on over to my house after school so we can watch it."  
  
"Sounds like a plan," Sydney replied. She reached into her bag to grab the books for her morning classes: Spanish, music and literature.  
  
"Buenos días," the Spanish teacher greeted the class. Sydney had been studying the language long enough that most of the classes she took were taught in Spanish. It had been hard to get used to at first, but now she liked it.   
  
"Feliz cumpleaños, Sydney," The teacher wished Sydney a happy birthday. "¿Ha recibido algunos regalos?" Had she received any presents yet?  
  
"Sí," Sydney nodded. "Mis padres me dieron un anillo maravilloso. Era de mi abuela." Sydney felt excited just to mention the ring.  
  
"¡Qué bonito!" The teacher exclaimed. She then told the class to open their books, as they would be discussing a short story which they had recently read.  
  
The next hour, Sydney and Laura had music class together.   
"What do you think we're going to do today?" Laura asked as she took her seat next to Sydney. Aside from being part of the exclusive Madrigal group, the girls were part of the large mixed chorus, the White River Chorale.   
  
"I don't know," Sydney answered. "Since we're done with our first festival of the year, we'll probably start stuff for district music contest."  
  
* * *  
  
After Sydney got home from Laura's house that afternoon, she found her mother sitting at the antique vanity in the master bedroom, fixing her hair.  
  
"Did you have a good time with Laura?" Sydney's mother asked as she reached for a glittery rhinestone barrette.   
  
"Yes, it was great," Sydney told her mother as she sat down on the bed, admiring the dresses her mother had pulled out for the occasion. "We watched the DVD she gave me and listened to some music."   
  
Finished with her hair, Sydney's mother turned around, smiling at her daughter. Not even Sydney could have realized how happy it made her to see her daughter living such a carefree life, consumed by hope for the future.  
  
"As soon as your brother comes home from football practice, you'll need to get ready for dinner. We're going over to Syd's house tonight."  
  
The very thought of the kindly older man, whom she had always called Older Syd, filled her heart with warmth. She had known Older Syd as long as she could remember. He would make up stories, just for Sydney and Kyle, that reminded her of the black-and-white movies she watched on antique DVD's. His soft, yet resonant Belgian-accented voice spoke to Sydney of glamorous, exciting times gone by. Both his voice and his stories filled her with the same kind of pleasant longing that she felt while listening to her old records.  
  
"I'll go find something to wear," Sydney said, walking excitedly toward her room.   
  
As she dressed for dinner, Sydney heard the front door open and close, which meant her father and Kyle were home. The sound of running water started down the hall as Kyle took a quick shower after practice.   
  
"You look lovely, Maggie," Dr. Charles said to his wife.  
  
"Thanks, Jarod," she answered, grabbing her coat. Sydney smiled as she overheard her parents' conversation. Hearing the affection in their voices, Sydney wistfully wondered if she would ever meet a man whom she would love as much as her mother loved her father.   
  
* * *  
  
"Happy birthday, Sydney Catherine!" Older Syd exclaimed as he opened the door to let them in.   
  
"Thank you for having us over," Sydney told her dear friend.  
  
"You're very welcome!" Older Syd, who had been in a wheelchair as long as Sydney Catherine could remember, turned around and wheeled toward the kitchen. Although Older Sydney was well over eighty years old, he still seemed like a younger man in many ways. His eyes were bright and intelligent, and his voice was as wonderful as ever.   
  
The birthday feast as Older Sydney's house was as wonderful and elegant as Sydney Catherine could have imagined. Syd and Jimmy had gone all out, preparing all of her favorite dishes. Jimmy, Laura's father, lived next door and helped Older Syd with things like running errands and picking up the house for occasions like this. Sydney pictured Jimmy standing over the oven, perhaps even wearing an apron, and laughed quietly to herself. Clearly, they had enlisted the help of Laura's older sister, Deb, who lived about an hour away in Sterling. Deb was a school psychologist who came into town two evenings a week for night classes toward a master's degree. Everyone said that Deb looked like their father, while Laura looked like their mother, but Sydney had never met Laura's mother. She and Jimmy had divorced when Deb was a young girl, and had gotten married a second time. The marriage had been brief, but had lasted just long enough for Laura to be born. Sydney knew that her best friend missed having a mother who lived with her, but Jimmy was a very kind and understanding man who was an excellent father to both his daughters.  
  
"How is your coursework going?" Older Sydney asked Deb as they were finishing dessert.   
  
"It's going well," Deb answered, smiling. "Only two more semesters and I'll be done."  
  
"Very good," Older Sydney exclaimed in his lilting Belgian accent which became ever more pronounced when he was pleased about something.  
  
Sydney remembered that her father once told her that Older Syd had been a psychologist or researcher or something like that. He and Jimmy had been friends for many years, and maybe he had influenced Deb on career choices.  
  
"That's great, Debbie," Sydney's mother said. "Excuse me, I mean, Deb." She smiled, her eyes lighting up with joy and life. It was when she had this particular expression that Sydney decided her mother looked the most beautiful. "I'm not used to you being so grown up!"  
  
"It's OK," Deb said, grinning. Had they known each other for a long time as well? Sydney wondered.  
  
A strange feeling shadowed over Sydney for a brief moment. She suddenly felt as if everyone at the dinner had known each other for longer than anyone would guess. Somehow, it made her feel like an outsider, all by herself. Sydney sighed, then decided that she might not be entirely alone, as she glanced at Laura, who didn't appear to be at all familiar with the situation, either. Both Sydney and Laura must have been unaware of something quite complex that had existed between their families. However, as soon as it had come, the feeling vanished, leaving Sydney to enjoy the rest of the evening.   
  
Later that night, after Jimmy, Laura and Deb had gone, Sydney's parents were visiting with Older Sydney in the den. They were talking about mundane things, such as Dr. Charles' medical practice and the newspaper. Neither Sydney nor Kyle were very interested.   
  
"Can I please use your computer, Uncle Syd?" Kyle asked, preferring to play computer games, look up NFL statistics or read science fiction stories to a boring, grown-up discussion.  
  
"Of course," Older Sydney answered.  
  
Sydney Catherine followed her brother up the stairs, past the lift that allowed Older Syd's wheelchair to make it up the second floor. After Kyle had located the computer and was happily playing games, Sydney walked noiselessly down the hall, glancing at the other rooms. She had always been fascinated with the way other people decorated their homes, which was why she often stopped at Green River Design to see their latest decorating ideas. Someday she wished to have an entire house to decorate all by herself.  
  
Most of the rooms in Older Sydney's house looked as though a man, even a sophisticated, cultured one, had decorated them. However, the bedroom at the end of the hallway was different. Sydney supposed it was a spare room reserved for guests, although she had never known Older Sydney to have company. The bedspread was a light blue with a coverlet of ivory lace, along with matching curtains and tablecloth. On the walls were small, quaint pictures that showed peaceful scenes of the countryside in winter. A tall white bookshelf, full of old books with worn spines, stood opposite the bed. Sydney decided at once that she liked this room very much. It was one she could imagine herself feeling very at home in. She could almost see the morning sun streaming through the windows.  
  
Sydney turned and left the room, still pleasantly surprised by its delicate beauty. As she walked down the hallway toward the study, where Kyle had switched from games to science fiction stories, a light in one of the other rooms caught her eye. She walked in and squinted through the darkness at the source of the light. The closet door was ajar, revealing a small silver box about the size of a briefcase. There was a screen inside the lid, glowing a bright silver. Sydney turned the light on a tiny bit and looked closer. The object resembled a personal DVD player from around the turn of the twenty-first century. Perhaps it was a very old computer, Sydney noted as she saw that it contained a keyboard and a finger-guided cursor sensor. To the side was a series of slots that held small, silver discs that resembled miniature CD's. She located the drive that must play the discs, chose one at random and slid it inside.   
  
Sydney felt a blush of shame come over her face as she put the disc into the drive. She had never been the sort of person who would go through someone else's belongings, but Sydney felt compelled to investigate further. As if watching herself in a dream, she saw her finger push the button that set the flickering screen in motion.   
  
What Sydney next saw would stay in her memory as long as she lived. Somewhat grainy images of a young boy about twelve years old filled the screen. He looked very much like Kyle, only a little younger. There were words on the lower left-hand side of the screen, but in the half-light, she couldn't make all of it out. Leaning closer, she gasped with surprise and an unexplained foreboding of horror. It said JAROD, 4/17/71, FOR CENTRE USE ONLY. Jarod was her father's name! If the boy looked so much like Kyle, was it possible that it could be her father? What in the world was The Centre? What was the strange box and its discs doing in Older Sydney's house?  
  
Her last question was answered when she heard a familiar voice speak. The voice was a lot younger, but she would have recognized the accent anywhere. It was Older Sydney, only he was much younger. Most importantly, he was walking.  
  
"Very good, Jarod." The young man Sydney praised the boy. "The correct answer in two minutes under your previous time."  
  
Even if the picture had been in color, instead of black and white, Sydney Catherine could sense that whatever the place was, it was utterly colorless. It had an aura of sadness combined with a strict sense of "business only" that no child should have to endure. As she continued to watch the strange scene unfold, Sydney noted that the boy Jarod did not seem to be a child at all, but rather a weary man in a child's body. He never laughed or had any of the typical expressions of a child. And Older Sydney! His young image was completely different from the Older Syd she knew and loved. Older Sydney was a kindly man who emanated life and joy, though his was a quiet, dignified joy. It was joy nonetheless. His younger counterpart seemed to be rather detached and very scientific in his dealings with the boy. It seemed that he was doing a sort of experiment with him. After the boy was escorted out by a half-shadowed figure, the younger Sydney turned to the camera and remarked that Jarod was progressing beyond a satisfactory manner, and the simulation was nearly finished. Then, forgetting for a moment that the cameras were constantly rolling, he turned in the direction the boy had gone. An expression similar to the caring he exhibited at present was evident in the young man's face. So he did care, thought Sydney Catherine. Even though she didn't understand much, if any, of the situation before her, this thought gave her a welcome comfort.  
  
In a state of bewilderment, Sydney selected other discs to view. Not once did it register that she must hurry and put the contraption away, in order not to be discovered. She was overwhelmed by the need to know more, driven by developing questions. If this was indeed her father, why had she not known about this bizarre chapter of his life? She had always been told that he had grown up in Dover, Delaware! Questions were flooding her mind as she picked up the last shiny disc. She held it up, seeing the reflection of her chocolate brown eyes in its surface. Did she dare go further? Yes. She slid the final disc into the machine and waited for an image to appear.   
  
Given what she had watched on the others, she expected to see more scenes of the boy Jarod solving mathematical equations, working puzzles or hypothesizing the result of a scientific experiment. Instead, she saw a chaotic mass of people rushing down a hallway, all talking loudly at once. The boy Jarod was standing next to the younger Sydney. "What's going on, Sydney?" he asked, his eyes full of concern.  
  
The talking turned into shouting, and then a gunshot rang out. A shrill scream rose above the others, and Sydney Catherine saw a little girl being held back by several strong men in dark suits. Her scream caused a ripple of horror to run through Sydney. Before she could notice that the little girl looked somehow familiar, the camera panned to the cause of the excitement. There was an elevator at the end of the hall, and inside was a woman, lying dead on the elevator floor. She had long black hair, wore a fashionable suit and looked exactly like Sydney's mother.   
  
  
Sydney yanked her hand away from the device, as if it had grown red-hot. She did not even try to stop herself from screaming. She could not understand what she had just seen, but she knew that it was a far cry from the nostalgic stories she'd heard from her parents about how their days at Dover High School in the 1970's. However, what stood out the most, haunting her every vision, was the dead woman in the elevator.   
  
She ran down the stairs, through the living room, headed for the door. Her parents and Older Sydney barely had time to ask her what was going on when she dashed out the door and out into the cool, crisp night. If she could only get home, back to her own room, she might be able to make some sense out of this and feel less horrified. She sobbed as she ran, remembering how she had seen her mother's face as she ran out of Older Sydney's house. It had only intensified the gruesome image even more, for it was as if she were looking at the dead woman herself.   
  
Her mind on autopilot, Sydney mechanically reached for the extra key under the doormat and let herself in. She did not stop running until she reached her bedroom, where she threw herself onto her bed and let the sobs out, still shocked, confused and submerged in an unnamed pain.  
  
Minutes later, her parents were home, followed by Kyle. Dr. Charles asked Kyle if he could give them some privacy with Sydney. He gladly obliged, going to his own room without a word. It scared him to see his sister that upset; she had a tendency toward the dramatic, but it was never like this. He shut the door and sat in silence.  
  
Maggie Charles knocked softly on her daughter's bedroom door. "Sydney? Whatever is wrong? Please, can I come in?"  
  
Sydney found enough voice to say yes.  
  
Maggie's blue-gray eyes were wide with concern. "What is it, honey?" She sat down on the bed beside Sydney and stroked her daughter's long, black hair. "Whatever it is, you can tell me. Please, let me help."  
  
Sydney sat up, her eyes still red and swollen from crying. "Kyle and I were upstairs in the house. He found the computer in the study, and I," she sniffled, and her mother handed her a tissue, "I went down the hall the guest room, then I was leaving and I saw ... I saw a light and it was coming from this small silver computer thing with little discs."  
  
Maggie felt herself freeze, her blood running cold at the mention of the device and its discs. She and Jarod had wanted so badly to keep their children from the harm of the truth about their pasts.  
  
Sydney continued. "I put one in and saw this boy named Jarod in this freaky place, doing experiments and stuff. But then I heard a little girl scream and saw HER in the elevator. And," Sydney did not know if she could get the words out, "and she, she looked..."  
  
"Just like me," her mother finished. Sydney nodded and cried even harder. Her mother held her close, trying to comfort her. She shed some silent tears of her own, because all Maggie Parker Charles could see was the image that had haunted her for so many years. It was the same thing that had horrified Sydney, that of Catherine Parker lying dead in the Centre elevator.   
  
"Who was it?" Sydney asked through her tears.   
"That," Maggie began, "was my mother. Your grandmother."  
  
"But I don't understand!" Sydney sat up and looked at her mother with bewildered eyes. "I remember my grandmother when I was small. She used to sing to me. She couldn't have died in that elevator before I was born!"  
  
"I know," Maggie continued. "But we didn't know the truth for years." She fell silent as part of her innermost soul, where secrets are kept, gave way. What was she doing? She and Jarod had agreed that it would be in the best interest of Sydney and Kyle if they knew nothing of the past. However, everything was different now. Once Sydney had found the DSA player, there was no going back.  
  
Maggie stood up. "I think your father and brother should also be here, because this involves them as much as you and I."   
  
A few minutes later, Jarod and Kyle were sitting on the floor in Sydney's room. Jarod's face was tense, much different than Sydney had ever known it, as he prepared to uncover the truth about their family.   
  
"When I was a young boy," Jarod started with a weary sigh, " I was taken from my parents. . ."  
  
As she listened to her parents tell their story, Sydney knew she would never forget that night for the rest of her life. The images in her mind made her dizzy. All about the Centre; Jarod being taken, spending his childhood on simulations, her mother, made to think that Catherine Parker had died in the elevator, later told that she had died after giving birth to Ethan, Jarod's escape, the death of his brother Kyle, for whom his son was named, Maggie chasing him along with Older Syd and Jimmy Broots, the secrets they uncovered, the Isle of Carthis.   
Sydney smiled as her parents recounted what had happened on the island. "Was that when you discovered that you loved each other?"  
  
Jarod shook his head. "No, I loved your mother since we were children. She gave me my first kiss."  
  
Maggie wiped the tears out of her eyes and laughed. "I could never admit it, not even to myself. Not even on the island. He told me we'd reached a turning point, and I should take advantage of it. But I was too stubborn, I still couldn't do it."  
  
"So what happened?" Kyle asked. The sun was starting to rise in the east, but no one even thought about having been up the entire night.  
  
"That was when things got crazier than ever before," Jarod said. "After finding out that our trip to the island was only a Centre plot to retrieve the scrolls. Mr. Parker jumped out of the plane, along with the scrolls. I always thought we'd see him again, since he had disappeared and reappeared in the past, but he never came back. No one ever saw the scrolls again, either. That's when I started to notice that Sydney wasn't acting like himself."  
  
Maggie nodded. She had been the first person to notice that something was terribly wrong.  
  
* * *  
  
January 2002  
  
Miss Parker may have acted as if things were back to normal at The Centre, but inside she was still reeling from her father's jump from the airplane. He had failed to reappear, which left Raines in the ideal position to take control of The Centre. She was so buried in thought as she walked to the elevator that she did not notice Sydney waiting there.  
  
"Miss Parker," he greeted her in a flat monotone, instead of his usual expressive voice.   
  
"Sydney," she answered, stopping to look at him. His eyes had a dull, lifeless look, and he just stared ahead as if an invisible wall separated him from everything and everyone around him. She lowered her voice to a hushed whisper. "What's going on? Something's wrong, I know it."  
  
"In private, Parker. They could be listening, watching, surveying our every move," Sydney answered. "Meet me at The Refuge tonight. Seven o'clock. Don't be late."  
  
"I'll be there," Miss Parker said. She stepped onto the elevator, turning back to Sydney. "Aren't you getting on?"  
  
Sydney sighed and followed her onto the elevator, looking down at his shoes as they ascended to the tenth floor.  
  
Miss Parker went directly to The Refuge after work. Since she lived a few miles out of town, stopping at home was out of the question. She squinted her eyes in the dark of the upscale bar to see where Syd was waiting. He was sitting in a booth in the corner, opposite the entrance.  
  
She sat down across from him. "What's going on?"  
  
Sydney stirred his drink and took a sip. "Something has to be done about all of this." His voice was still expressionless.  
  
"You're telling me!" Miss Parker was becoming a little irritated. "You asked me out here to complain about who's in charge?"  
  
Sydney nodded. "That, and all the rest. Don't you know, Parker, that if Lyle finds Jarod before you do that you could lose your life?"  
  
"That's not going to happen, Lyle knows absolutely nothing about the way Jarod thinks."  
  
"All of this is wrong, and it's been wrong as long as I can remember. Jacob knew it, but I wouldn't listen to him." Sydney's voice broke as he stared at his glass. "Even when I tried to stop it, nothing worked. They just rebuilt SL-27 and kept on going."  
  
Miss Parker's eyes grew wide. "You mean after what went on with Davy?" she asked, referring to the time Raines had stolen another child in order to create another Pretender. Sydney had gone off the deep edge that time, planting a bomb in one of the sublevels of The Centre. The explosion had left him blinded for a few weeks, but the formal inquiry blamed everything on Gar, the sweeper who had died in the blast.   
  
"Yes," Sydney replied. "It's time I get it right."  
  
"Sydney!" She was shocked. "Are you listening to yourself?" Since when did the usually docile psychiatrist talk about reaching such extremes?  
  
"It's about time I listened to myself, Parker. It's when I stopped that all of this began," he said.   
  
Miss Parker discussed their conversation in depth with Broots.  
  
"Oh, man," the computer tech said, shaking his head. "Now I know why Sydney was asking for those floor plans."  
  
"Broots!" Miss Parker admonished. "You know you should have told me about this earlier."  
  
"I would have," he said, looking up at her with his large, imploring eyes, "but I had no idea, honest. Something tells me, though, that he's not going to do it the same way."  
  
"How, then?" Miss Parker asked.  
  
"He also wanted to know how to work the lock system on the computer controls. Then he looked up the names of every federal agent in the state."  
  
"We have to stop him," she said. "We can't let this happen, not again."  
  
January 2018  
  
"So, did he set another bomb?" Kyle asked.   
  
"No, he didn't," Maggie answered. "He had a much more intricate plan in mind."  
  
Jarod continued the story. "After securing the escape of all the children trapped in The Centre, he forged a letter from Raines to every Centre associate in the world, including the Triumvirate. Syd met them in the lobby and took them down to the lowest sublevel. The entire Centre team was then locked inside by Broots' system, without any way of escape."  
  
"Or that was how it seemed," Maggie added. "Syd didn't care if the federal agents found out about the entire thing. He was even prepared to be prosecuted for his role in The Centre's crimes. But that wasn't how it turned out. One of the operatives was able to break through the system, and that's when Angelo tried to stop Syd from going inside."   
  
* * *  
  
January 2002  
  
Just outside the door, Syd was dialing the chief of police on his cellular phone when Angelo ran through the hallway.  
  
"Bad men going to leave," the empath warned.   
  
Syd stopped dialing. "What do you mean, Angelo? The system's foolproof!"   
Angelo shook his head. "They've found a way out."  
  
Syd set his jaw in grim determination. If he had to end The Centre with his own blood, he would do so. "Show me."  
  
Angelo led him to a narrow passageway in the only air duct that led to the large room that contained the Centre agents. "Up there. A button."  
  
Sydney cursed himself for forgetting one minor detail. Keeping the truth about the Centre a secret was so important to Raines and the others that they had installed a button that would cause the room to cave in on itself. Determined to prevent them from staging their own end, Sydney pressed the secret code into the keypad and entered the room. "The police are on their way," he shouted. "No more excuses, no more lies."  
  
Sydney felt as if he were seeing the entire scene unfold in slow motion. Angelo burst through the doorway. "Bad men have guns!" He dove into Sydney and both men fell to the ground. A series of staccato shots echoed off the walls for what seemed like hours. Sydney watched with detached horror. He should have known they'd find a way to evade the authorities, even if it meant bloodshed. So much violence had taken place over the years that he had become numb to it. As he lay on the floor, Angelo protecting him, Sydney awakened to reality for the first time in years. With renewed strength, he pushed Angelo off of him and stood up. He didn't want to be protected. He had unwittingly helped bring this sordid legacy into being, and was prepared to face the consequences.  
  
"Angelo," Syd urged the empath. "Run while you can."  
  
Angelo shook his head. "No, won't leave Sydney."  
  
A gravely voice spoke from the other end of the room. It was Raines. "If we're going down, you're coming too." Two shots were fired, one that hit Angelo in the side as he once again knocked Syd to the ground in an effort to shield him from the bullets. It was too late; the second shot had already landed in Sydney's back.   
  
"No!" the empath roared, ignoring his pain. He pulled Sydney into the corridor outside. "Tell Jarod this where he'll find his family," Angelo pressed a piece of paper into Sydney's hand. "And tell M-M-Maggie," he stuttered to pronounce Miss Parker's given name, "that she's back. And the baby is safe. Away from bad people. Goodbye, Sydney."   
  
"Don't, Angelo," Sydney protested, gritting his teeth through the pain in his back. Angelo smiled. "It's all right. I'm going to the light and the music." He turned his head to see an angry, gun-wielding Raines making his way through the room. "See you there someday." With that, Angelo climbed into the air duct where the button was and caused the whole room to come down around the evil men. Sydney's last conscious thought was how the whole bizarre scene reminded him of the Biblical story of Samson, pulling down pillars to crush a room full of Philistines. A triumphant, heroic act.   
  
Miss Parker and Broots were outside, in the parking lot, when a familiar voice broke through the echo of gunshots. "Miss Parker, Broots, hurry. We don't have much time." It was Jarod. He turned off his cellular phone and ran toward The Centre. "Sydney needs us."  
  
They ran into the building and leaped down flights of stairs, as the elevators had stopped working with the push of the button. Once they reached SL-16, Jarod stopped. He turned to Miss Parker. "Broots and I will take it from here. Wait here for us." Before she could protest, they were out of sight, descending further and further down into the darkness. Minutes later, they emerged, carrying Sydney, who was still clutching the sheet of paper from Angelo.   
  
"You're going to be all right, Sydney," Jarod told his mentor.   
  
"Syd!" Miss Parker cried out at the sight of Sydney covered in blood.  
  
"This," Sydney mumbled, holding the paper aloft, "is for you. It's from Angelo. Your parents..."  
  
"Don't say anything," Jarod's doctor instincts took over. "Just hang in there."  
  
They carried Sydney to Miss Parker's car and took him to the nearest hospital. Syd would have bled to death if they had to wait for an ambulance. Four hours later, the doctor came out and told them that while Sydney had survived the operation, he would never walk again. The bullet had lodged itself in his spinal cord, causing paralysis from the waist down.   
  
Sydney's first words upon regaining consciousness were of Angelo and his sacrifice.   
  
"Did you get the address, Jarod?" Sydney asked.  
  
"Yes," Jarod said, tears streaming down his cheeks. Broots and Miss Parker were also crying for their lost friend. "But I'm not going anywhere until I'm sure you're all right."  
  
Miss Parker cleared her throat. "After we got you out, we found Angelo's body," she told Sydney. "We'll bury him as soon as you're better, somewhere away from here, where the sun will always shine down on him." She closed her eyes and rested her head on Broots' shoulder as she sobbed. As many times as she had been aggravated at Angelo, or had failed to understand his own private world, she was more fond of him than she would admit to anyone. She and Jarod had known him since they were small.   
  
"I'll go back and see what I can find," Broots offered.   
  
"I'll go with you," Jarod said. "You need to go home and get some sleep, Miss Parker." The tenderness that had become evident on the island was again in his voice.  
  
A week later, after Sydney was released from the hospital, they buried Angelo next to Sydney's brother Jacob, in the sunny hills next to the cabin.   
  
"What now?" Broots asked, glad that Debbie had been in Las Vegas with her mother for the week. He didn't want to have to explain what had taken place to his young daughter.   
  
"Now I'm going to find my family," Jarod said. "According to this address, they're in Maine." He put on his sunglasses and jacket, waved goodbye and walked back through the woods.  
  
Miss Parker sighed. She didn't want to admit it, but she was sorry to see Jarod go. It was most likely the due to the trauma of losing Angelo, she reasoned, willing herself to turn back into the Ice Queen.  
  
As if he could read her thoughts, Broots put a friendly arm around Miss Parker. For once, she didn't resist. "Let's go back to your house," he said. She nodded silently, knowing that she couldn't stand to be alone after all that had happened.  
  
The house was cold, as if it had been unoccupied for a long time. Broots lit a fire in the fireplace while Miss Parker helped Sydney lie down on the sofa. He was still weak from his injury and needed as much rest as possible.   
"Where do we go from here?" Miss Parker wondered aloud.  
  
Broots shook his head. "I don't know. It's so weird, we're finally free from The Centre, but I still feel trapped."  
  
"So do I," Sydney added.  
  
Miss Parker nodded wordlessly, slumped into the oversized chair across from the fireplace. She suddenly realized that she was completely exhausted.  
  
"How many days until Debbie returns?" Sydney asked, hoping to create a feeling of normalcy by bringing up another topic.   
  
"She'll be back in four days," Broots answered.   
  
"That's good," Sydney replied.   
Broots smiled nervously. "Yeah, I miss her."   
  
A sound from outside, like leaves brushing against the windowpane, made Miss Parker jump. "What was that?"  
  
The house was completely silent as they strained to hear the noise. After a few minutes, Miss Parker sighed and sat back in the chair. "Maybe it was just my imagination, but I was sure I heard..."  
  
She was interrupted by the jarring sound of the doorbell.  
  
Broots turned toward the door. "Guess you were right, Miss Parker. I wonder who that could be? Do you want me to get the door?"   
"That's all right, Broots," Miss Parker stood up and walked toward the door. "It's my house."   
  
She watched her hand clasp the doorknob as if everything had gone into slow motion. She had no idea why, but part of her knew that whatever she found on the other side of the door would change her live forever. Sydney felt a similar foreboding. Angelo's final words rung in his head: "Tell Maggie that she's back. And the baby is safe. Away from bad people." Could this have something to do with the baby?  
  
The door swung open to reveal an elderly woman with long, white hair. She had tears in her eyes, but was smiling triumphantly. Miss Parker's eyes widened as she noticed that she was looking at an older version of herself.   
"Maggie!" the woman exclaimed through her tears. "I knew they wouldn't keep me from you forever!"   
* * *  
  
January 2018  
  
"It was Grandmother!" Sydney Catherine said in a low, astonished voice.   
  
Maggie nodded, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Since I was ten years old, they had told me she was dead. I couldn't believe she was standing there, alive, on my front porch. I didn't know what to think. As we would find out, neither did Sydney."  
  
* * *  
  
January 2002  
  
"Mom? Is it really you?" Miss Parker whispered. In all of her dreams about her mother, Catherine Parker was a young woman, a mirror image of her daughter.  
  
"Yes, Maggie, it's me. Look," The older woman opened her hand to reveal a necklace which her daughter had given her on the last Christmas they had shared together. No one else could have possibly known, not even the man she believed to be her father.  
  
Tears choked Miss Parker as she embraced her mother, realizing that this was the moment for which she'd waited a lifetime.  
  
"He was right," Miss Parker said softly, "Angelo was right. You're the one who was coming back."  
  
"Angelo?" Catherine frowned. "Do you mean little Timmy, whom William subjected to that horrible experiment?"  
  
"Yes. He was my friend, and Jarod's ever since we met him. He died last week, destroying The Centre for good He saved Sydney's life." Miss Parker turned to Sydney and Broots with teary eyes. Sydney's expression had changed from one of weariness to one of unbridled happiness.   
  
"Sydney?" Catherine sat down beside him on the sofa. "Have I ever missed you."  
  
"My dear Catherine!" Sydney embraced the woman he had loved since the first day they met.   
  
Miss Parker, or, Maggie, as she had once again begun to think of herself, smiled in amazement. Another piece of the mystery of her past was complete. Anyone could tell that Sydney and her mother shared a love that even The Centre could not destroy. It was obvious, even before they confirmed it, that Sydney was her real father.   
  
"Miss Parker!" Broots said in a hushed voice. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"  
  
"Yes, Broots. But, please, call me Maggie."  
  
"Maggie." The computer tech blushed, not used to being on such intimate terms with Miss Parker.   
  
"It turns out that Jarod's mother and my mother were friends for many years," Maggie told Broots. "She named me after her best friend, Margaret."  
  
"Our family is complete," Catherine said to Sydney. "You, me, our daughter Margaret."  
  
"This is Broots," she motioned toward the tech, who was pacing in front of the fire.   
  
Catherine smiled warmly at Broots. It was the same smile Maggie had cherished in her memory since she was ten years old. "Are you a friend of Maggie's?   
"Yes, ma'am," Broots was suddenly formal and extra-polite, unable to believe that he was in the same room with the legendary Catherine Parker. "I'm James Broots, but my friends call me Jimmy."  
  
"It's wonderful to meet you, Jimmy. Any friend of Maggie's is a friend of mine," Catherine exclaimed.   
A million different questions were spinning inside Maggie's head. "What.... where.... how did you escape Raines?"  
  
Catherine was understanding of her daughter's confusion. "It seems unbelievable, but it really happened. After Raines took me to the forest house, to stay until Ethan was born, my inner sense began to confuse me. On one hand, I knew that I would not leave the house alive. At the same time, I always knew I'd see you again. It would be many years until I understood the mystery. Immediately after I gave birth to Ethan, I remember Raines pointing a gun at me. Then everything got fuzzy. The mother superior of that convent, you know, the one a few miles into the woods, said that she found me wandering in the woods near the forest house, disoriented. She recognized me from the days when Harriett Tashman and I lived at the convent in New York, and took me in. The sisters tried to help me remember my past, but it was useless. My memory was gone. All I had was this necklace, which was engraved with the words "Love, Maggie." Now I understand that this was what my inner sense was referring to when it said I wouldn't get out alive. For those years, it was as if I, Catherine Parker, didn't exist. Then it became obvious that it would be much too dangerous to reveal my identity as The Centre grew in power and corruption. Several of the sisters who had previously helped me save children from The Centre were then helping Jarod find his family."  
  
"Jarod!" Maggie exclaimed, a wave of wistfulness coming over her.   
  
Catherine put an arm around her daughter and held her tight as she continued her story. She had a feeling that everything regarding her daughter and Jarod would work out, all in due time.  
  
"About a year ago I started to recover my memory," Catherine continued, "just flashes at first, then the entire thing. I knew I had to get back to my daughter, and to Sydney, but Raines' men were everywhere. As soon as I had remembered everything, I started to search for the abbess who had found me in the woods."   
  
Maggie nodded, realizing that she had not been the only one searching for the truth about Catherine Parker.  
  
"The sisters told me that the mother superior had been dead for ten years, but had left a letter addressed to me, for me to open whenever my memory returned. She knew I would have many questions about the past twenty years. In the letter, she disclosed how she and the sisters had maintained inside contacts in The Centre for over thirty years. Through these contacts, the abbess learned of Raines' plan to execute me after Ethan's birth. She was the reason why I didn't die the way Raines had planned, because she was waiting outside the forest house. Somehow she had a gun, and shot through the window, startling Raines, so that he would miss. Frightened by the shot and faint  
from labor, I stumbled back against the wall and fell out of the window behind me. The abbess hid me in the woods until Raines had left. Like I told you, it was an unlikely story, but it did explain what I couldn't figure out about how I got out of the house. Just yesterday, the contacts received word that The Centre had been destroyed, so I knew it was finally safe to come to you."  
  
* * *  
  
January 2018  
  
"What an extraordinary story!" Sydney Catherine exclaimed. She narrowed her eyes in concentration. "I remember how lovely her voice was, when she would sing to me."  
  
"Yes, she did," Maggie answered. "She had a wonderful voice. You know, some of those records you have remind me of her. She loved jazz, it reminded her of the happy times before she met her husband and got involved in The Centre. West Coast Jazz, she said, was the best."  
  
"Maybe that's why I like it so much." Sydney looked down at the floor and absently traced the patterns of the carpet with her finger. "After a while, I started to wonder if I had dreamed those songs, like I saw them in a movie or something."  
  
Maggie shook her head. "That was no dream."  
  
* * *  
  
January 2002  
  
Three days after Catherine's shocking arrival, it seemed that all was settled in Maggie's mind, except one factor. Jarod.  
  
"You look like something's on your mind," Catherine told her daughter one morning over coffee.  
  
"You really know me, Mom." Maggie stirred her coffee and tried to find the words to express what was bothering her. "It's Jarod," she said with a loud sigh.  
  
Catherine smiled, her inner sense confirming the hunch which she had always felt regarding her daughter and Jarod. However, what Maggie needed was an understanding ear, not a prediction of the future. "What about him?"  
  
"When we were on the Isle of Carthis, just before The Centre showed up, Jarod and I really came close to... accepting the way we've felt about each other over the years. Well, actually, it was me who was trying to accept it. Jarod already had done that. In the car, as we were waiting, he told me that we'd reached a turning point and that it was up to me to do something about it. I just couldn't. . . I'm not sure why. But now," Maggie looked up at her mother, who was listening intently, "with you coming back, the Centre ending, Jarod finding his family, I know I've made a terrible mistake. I was always afraid it wouldn't work out; as long as The Centre existed, we could never be happy together, not the way I wanted us to be."  
  
"But now you can," Catherine reflected. "Please, Maggie, do yourself a favor and swallow your pride. I know you've had to be strong, independent and not let your feelings show, but when the rest of your life and the man you love is what's at stake, you've got to let it go."  
  
"And just call him," Maggie finished in a hushed tone.   
  
Catherine nodded.  
  
Maggie looked out the window to the sunny forest morning. Could she and Jarod really make it work? There was only one way to find out. She picked up the telephone and dialed Jarod's cell phone.  
  
"Jarod? It's me . . . Maggie."  
  
Jarod was silent. She was calling herself Maggie... something must have changed. Something drastic.  
  
"Jarod? Are you there?"  
  
"Yes, I'm here." Jarod's voice sounded perplexed. "Nothing's wrong with Sydney, is it?"   
  
"No," Maggie replied. "He's doing fine. Listen, Jarod, I know we have a lot of history behind us that hasn't been easy..."  
  
"That's an understatement," he interjected.   
  
"Things have changed, Jarod. Did you find your family?" Maggie inquired, wondering how to get at what she needed to say.  
  
"Yes," Jarod's voice was full of emotion: bittersweet joy, a sense of closure, a bit of exhaustion from the sheer force of the experience of having one's dream come true.   
  
"Jarod, you won't believe this, but my mother is alive. And she's here." She narrowed her eyes, a bit of Miss Parker the Ice Queen returning in her tone. "You didn't know about this and hold it back from me, Jarod?"   
"No, Miss Parker, I didn't know. I hope you'll be as happy with your family as I will with mine."   
Maggie could sense his urgency; he was about to hang up, so she had to be quick. "Listen, Jarod, I'm calling you because I know I made a mistake back on the Island, about the turning point. I should have chosen you. I should have always chosen you. I love you, Jarod, and I want to be with you. I've always loved you..." She let her breath out and closed her eyes, knowing that she'd just unveiled a part of herself which she wished no one to see, but it was too late to take it back now. She waited in near desperation for his response.  
  
"I love you too, Maggie," Jarod said softly. "I want us to be together more than anything."   
Maggie could hardly believe what she was hearing. "Then come back, bring your family with you, and we'll find a way to be together. The Centre's gone, we can have our own lives now."  
  
Four days later, Maggie, Jarod, their families, Sydney, Broots and Debbie were preparing to permanently leave Blue Cove. Although the danger of The Centre had died with the hero Angelo, Maggie and Jarod felt that the best place to start their new lives was somewhere as far away from Blue Cove as possible. Sydney and Broots were able to pack up their belongings fairly quickly, but it took Maggie a couple of days to completely empty her house.   
  
"Mom?" she called to Catherine, "are you sure you're all right with leaving the house? It was your summer cottage."   
"It's absolutely fine with me," Catherine replied. "I need to get away from here, too. I've given the house to the sisters, they'll look after it and make good use of it."  
  
Their original plan was to take the train as far west as possible, but Jarod had an idea the night before.  
  
"Have you ever been to the mountains, Maggie?"  
  
"Once or twice," she answered.   
  
"On one of my pretends, I ended up in Fort Collins, Colorado for a few days. It was a lovely place, and I wish I could have stayed longer."  
  
"Let's go."  
  
* * *  
  
January 2018  
  
"So that's how we ended up in Colorado?" Sydney inquired.  
  
Maggie nodded. "It sounded like a good idea, and we knew that each of our families could start over again out here. Your father started a medical practice and I did some reporting for the newspaper."   
Jarod laughed. "I always thought that was funny, and I still do!"   
"Why?" Maggie asked, rolling her eyes at him in gest.  
  
"Because I'll never forget that time you were chasing me and you said you were from the Blue Cove Gazette," Jarod answered.   
  
"Maybe that's where I got the idea!" Maggie laughed. "Anyway," she turned back to Sydney and Kyle, "your father and I were married upon arriving in Colorado Springs, as were Sydney and my mother. "  
  
"The room in Older Syd's house must have been hers," Sydney Catherine said. "The one with the white furniture and the blue lace bedspread."  
  
"Yes," Maggie answered, her eyes filling with tears. "Your grandmother Catherine lived for five more years after she and Syd were married. After she died, he never changed her sitting room. It was her favorite room in the house, where she went to read and draw, or do whatever she wanted. "  
  
Maggie looked at her husband. "Do you have anything more to add, Jarod?"  
  
The doctor shook his head. "No, that's all. That's the true story of our family. You and Kyle already know that my parents and my sister Emily stayed in Boston, since we go out there ever summer to visit them."  
  
It was amazing, Sydney Catherine thought. Before she had discovered the shiny silver computer and its discs, she had assumed that her family was just like any other. In one night, she had learned of enough secrets to last an entire lifetime.  
  
* * *  
  
Three Weeks Later:  
  
After learning that Laura's father Jimmy had been involved in The Centre, Sydney couldn't help but wonder if she knew the truth. Not wanting her best friend to feel as shocked as she had felt herself, Sydney said nothing to Laura until her mother told her that Jimmy had talked with his daughter shortly after Sydney's birthday dinner. Once the initial surprise was over, they didn't discuss it much. Their conversations drifted back to boys , music, shopping and school. However, about three weeks after her amazing discovery, the past was on Sydney Catherine's mind.  
  
"I just have to believe that there is some sort of purpose in all of this," Sydney told Laura as they were walking home from school one sunny February afternoon.   
  
Laura nodded. "For a while, I'd had a feeling that there was more going on than anyone else would tell us. It seems so obvious that my dad and Older Syd were connected to your parents. What's it like, knowing Older Syd is really your grandfather?"  
  
Sydney Catherine smiled. "It's not really different at all. We've always been close, shared interest in old movies and music and stuff. Now it just makes sense."  
  
"What's your mother doing home so early?" Laura asked, pointing up ahead to Sydney's house, where Maggie was pulling her car into the driveway.   
  
"I don't know," Sydney answered, a chill running through her body. As the girls approached the house, they could tell that something was disturbing her mother. A combination of tension and sorrow was written all over Maggie's face.  
  
Sydney ran to her mother. "Mom, what's wrong?"  
  
Maggie sighed as she closed the car door. "It's Older Syd. He's very sick." She unlocked the front door and hurried inside, talking over her shoulder to Sydney. "Jimmy took him to the hospital this morning, but he didn't want to stay. He's ninety years old, and he wants to stay at home. I'm packing some things to stay the night. Jimmy stayed with him today and needs someone to relieve him. I can't let my father go through this alone."  
  
"Can I go with you?" Sydney was breathless by the time she caught up with her mother.   
  
Maggie opened a floral-embroidered suitcase and began piling things inside. "Yes. You might also want to pack some things, we'll most likely be there overnight."  
  
"Okay," Sydney ran to her room and assembled a bag of things she would need for the night.  
  
Jimmy met them at the door. "He's sleeping right now," he informed them, "but you'll need to make him some dinner in a while. He fell asleep around four o'clock."  
  
Maggie and Sydney Catherine went inside, trying to be as quiet as possible as not to wake Older Syd. Sydney fought back tears as soon as her mother tiptoed upstairs. She had only known Older Syd was her grandfather for a matter of weeks, and now she was about to lose him. To pass the time, Sydney glanced at the gold-framed pictures on the mantle. Several were of Sydney and his twin brother, Jacob, as little boys in Belgium. There were a few of Sydney, Kyle and their parents, one of Jimmy, Laura and Deb, and another of the white-haired woman whom Sydney now knew as her grandmother Catherine. In the picture, Catherine was standing outside, the Rocky Mountains in the background, appearing truly happy. The photograph in the middle was of Older Syd and Maggie. It must have been taken shortly after the move to Colorado, Sydney Catherine reasoned, since both Older Syd looked considerably younger. However, her mother had changed very little, appearing hardly older now than in the picture.   
  
"Sydney?" Her mother's hushed voice drifted down from over the landing. "He's asking for you."  
  
Sydney climbed the stairs, finding her mother and grandfather in the bedroom directly across the hall from Grandmother Catherine's room. Older Syd was half-sitting, half-lying in the bed, older and more fragile than ever before. She was almost afraid to say anything because she didn't want to upset him with her tears.   
  
"Sydney Catherine," the older man said, inclining his head toward her. "Don't be afraid. Come in, sit down."   
  
Sydney did as she was told, taking a seat in the chair by the bed. She didn't know what to say.   
  
"There are some things I need to tell you," Older Syd began.   
  
Sydney prayed that he was not about to reveal more secrets. Her mind was still reeling from those she had learned three weeks earlier. "What do you want me to know?" Her voice sounded small, timid, like that of a very young girl.  
  
Older Syd smiled gently. "It's nothing bad, on the contrary."  
  
Maggie stood up. "I'll give you two some privacy, some time to talk." She turned to leave the room. "I'll be downstairs if you need me."  
  
  
"I know what you've learned these past weeks has been a shock," Older Syd began. "But there is a positive side to these secrets. Your parents both possess extraordinary gifts. Your father has the genius to be whoever he wants to be, and your mother has a tremendous capability of intuition."  
  
"Her inner sense," Sydney said.   
  
"Yes, that's precisely what I mean," the older man affirmed. "You and your brother are very special as well. You have both inherited gifts from your parents. Like them, Sydney, you can be whoever you want to be, because you also have a certain kind of inner sense."  
  
"I don't understand," Sydney Catherine stated. "My mother's told me about her inner sense. I don't have anything like that."  
  
Older Syd smiled patiently. "Close your eyes, little Catherine. When everything is silent, what do you hear?"   
"Music. I always have a song in my head. Usually an old one."  
  
"That's your inner sense."  
  
"Really? But they're just songs I've learned from records."  
  
"But do you still hear it when the record is turned off? Do you hear them in your mind, sometimes changing them a little in order to make them exactly how it feels they should sound?"  
  
Sydney's eyes flew open. "Yes, that's exactly it. How did you know?"   
"I've worked with many gifted people in my lifetime. The music, this is your own inner sense, in addition to the unusual longing you have for the past. Do you remember the story about when your parents were alone on the Isle of Carthis?"  
  
She nodded. "Yes, I do."  
  
"Then you'll recall that they met a woman named Ocee, who was blind, but could see with her heart," Older Syd proceeded, "She met your parents and told them that the only good thing left on the island was their relationship. In the same way, you and your brother are the best things to come out of all of the misery of the past. You're the highlight of all of our pasts, of all of Jarod and Maggie's lives. And, you, Sydney Catherine, will use your gifts to show people all of the good in the world. The homesickness you get even when you're around people, that will be filled. You will convey that longing to the world through your books and your music. You'll find what people think has been lost and show it to them in a new light. "  
  
Sydney and her grandfather sat in silence, letting the meaning of his words absorb into her mind. Something deep inside told her that everything he had just said would come to pass.   
  
"Does this mean I'll be a singer?" Sydney's whisper was sparked with excitement.  
  
"Oh, yes, more than you know..." Older Syd answered.   
  
"Thank you for telling me these things," Sydney said, fighting the tears which wanted to spill down her cheeks. "I love you, Grandfather Syd. I've loved you ever since I can remember." She reached down to give him a gentle hug.  
  
Older Syd embraced his granddaughter. "I love you, too, Sydney Catherine. I'm so glad I got to see you turning into the wonderful young woman you are." His eyelids were growing heavy, ready to sleep again.  
  
"I'll just go downstairs and let you get some rest," Sydney stood up and walked slowly toward the hallway. By the time she reached the doorway, he was already asleep. Across the hall, Catherine Parker's room seemed to glow with a soft light, despite the gathering dusk outside. After lingering there for a moment, Sydney went downstairs to share all of Older Syd's wonderful statements with her mother.  
  
After a couple of hours, Maggie went upstairs to check on Older Syd.   
  
"How is he?" Sydney asked when her mother came back down the stairs.  
  
"It's hard to tell. He's sleeping, but I don't think it will be much longer." Maggie saw that Sydney was fighting to stay awake. "Why don't you go lay down in the guest room? You need some rest."  
  
Sydney grabbed her suitcase and took it upstairs. "You mean Grandmother Catherine's room?"  
  
Maggie nodded. "I don't think she'd mind."  
  
* * *  
The morning sun streamed in through Catherine's blue lace curtains. Sydney rubbed her eyes and shielded them from the sun. When she had first awakened, she was surprised to find herself in the beautiful guest room at Older Syd's house. Then she heard her mother walking in the hallway outside her door.   
  
Maggie entered the room, her hair tangled and eyes smudged with mascara. It was evident that she had not slept at all the previous night. "Sydney, honey, are you awake?"  
  
"He's gone, isn't he?" Sydney asked, the absence in her heart needing no answer.  
  
"Yes," Maggie sat down on the bed and started to cry softly. "Syd died in his sleep early this morning. He wasn't in any pain..." Her words broke off into sobbing. Sydney sat up, put her arm around her mother and started to cry. "At least he knew who his true family was," Maggie said. "He loved you so much, Sydney. He was so proud of you, even before you knew who he really was. If only I'd told you sooner..."  
  
"You didn't have to tell me," Sydney replied. "There was something special about the bond between us. Not even knowing he was my grandfather could have made it any better."  
  
* * *  
  
Two days later, Sydney and her family were waiting at the Denver airport.   
  
Jarod squeezed Maggie's hand. "Are you sure about this? We haven't been to Delaware since..."   
"I'm sure, Jarod. Syd needs to be buried with his brother. We'll be fine."  
  
Sydney stared out the window in silence. After learning the truth about her parents, she could only imagine how traumatic a trip back to Delaware, the place in which all of these horrible things had occurred, could be for her parents.  
  
She didn't know of any way that she could help the situation, so she put her headphones on and listened to a CD she had received for her birthday, watching the sky and clouds fly past her window.   
  
* * *  
  
Blue Cove, Delaware  
  
"How this place has changed!" Jimmy Broots exclaimed as he and his friends drove through town. "I don't think I'd even know it was the same place we left sixteen years ago."  
  
What had once been a snobby, upscale community was now a town that teemed with life. Signs proclaimed new museums and other cultural attractions. The sound of people talking and laughing as they walked and jogged downtown was unlike anything they had ever heard in years gone by. The town was nothing short of liberated from the oppressive feeling that always hung over it like a pall.   
  
"It's a lot like Fort Collins," Sydney observed, watching the downtown crowds out of the car window.   
  
"Very much," Jarod agreed. "I wonder what could have happened here."  
  
"Do you remember the way to Angelo's grave?" Jimmy asked, map in hand.  
  
"By heart," Jarod responded. He turned right at the last stoplight and followed a gravel road which led from the edge of town to a one-lane highway through the woods. A sign at on the highway turn-off read "Whitecloud -- 28 miles."  
  
Laura nudged Sydney. "Whitecloud? Isn't that where Older Syd's brother Jacob is buried?"  
  
Sydney Catherine nodded. "And Angelo too."  
  
The solemn ride lasted another half-hour, until a rustic wooden sign proclaimed they had reached Whitecloud, a small community of cabins around a lake. Sydney could understand why Older Syd had loved it here. It was beautiful, a paradise of trees and the sun shining on the lake. This must have been his refuge from the dark world of The Centre, she reasoned.  
  
The car stopped in front of a cabin at the end of the path. There was no one inside, but did not look as if had been abandoned. Maggie and Jimmy stared at the cabin's front porch. "Do you remember?" Jimmy asked Maggie. "We sat in the front room and played cards, like nothing had happened."  
  
"I certainly do," answered Maggie. "That was so long ago, but this place certainly hasn't changed at all."   
  
They got out of the car and walked down a grassy slope on the other side of the cabin. "It should be down here," Jarod called out to the rest. "There's a clearing by the water."  
  
Sydney suddenly wished she'd worn more suitable shoes for this trek; she didn't relish the idea of her new leather boots getting muddy on the way down. Laura, true to her sensible nature, wore a pair of tennis shoes. Sydney stifled a giggle; her best friend's sensibility was to be expected from the daughter of a detail-oriented computer tech called Broots.  
  
As they approached the clearing, a white fence was visible in the distance. Jarod stopped short in front of the group, clearly confused. "I don't remember a fence being here," he said.   
  
Sydney and Laura ran ahead of him. "It's a cemetery," Laura announced.   
  
Maggie squinted in the bright sun. Could they have ended up in the wrong place? No, for Jacob and Angelo's graves were on the edge of the yard, but hundreds of other graves surrounded them, all inside a white fence. A short distance away, a woman was kneeling in the grass, weeding the edge of the graveyard. She turned when she heard them arrive and addressed Jarod. "Hello. Are you Dr. Charles?"  
  
Jarod was perplexed. "Yes, I'm Dr. Charles. But I'm afraid we must be in the wrong place."  
  
"No, you're where you need to be. I'm Sister Josephine. Years ago, this area of land was purchased by St. Catherine's convent. We've taken care of it ever since."  
  
"St. Catherine's!" Maggie said under her breath, imagining the scene of her mother's escape.   
Sister Josephine nodded. "That's right. We're a sister order of St. Catherine's of the Hills in New York. Why don't you follow me back to the house, you look like you could use a rest."  
  
"Thanks," Jimmy said. "It's been a long trip."  
  
What Sydney Catherine would remember the most about Older Syd's funeral was the tremendous crowd of people who gathered to mourn him. Even after fleeing to Colorado, the kindly doctor had enough friends in Delaware who remembered him for the gentleman he was to give him an honoring service. Sydney studied each face intently, wanting to permanently etch the images of her grandfather's friends into her memory. There were older men and women who had perhaps been his neighbors or friends who knew the man but knew nothing of his work. Sydney wondered if her grandparents had helped rescue some of the younger mourners from The Centre as children. Some were around her parents' age, others younger. She wondered if any of them had been among the last children Sydney had freed just before destroying The Centre.   
  
After the service, the skies clouded over and a soft rain began to fall. Laura and Deb had followed their father back to the car, leaving Sydney alone at the edge of the convent grounds. One of the sisters had given her an extra memorial program as they were walking back to the house. Sydney stayed behind, absorbed in the mingling of peace and sadness in the rolling, green hills. She muttered a word of despair at the rain as it turned from soft to steady when she heard approaching footsteps.  
  
"Forgot your umbrella?" A man around twenty years old held an oversize umbrella over Sydney's head. She couldn't help but to stare; this young man was nearly the mirror image of her brother Kyle.  
  
"Thanks," she said. "I guess I didn't expect to need one."  
  
"Was he your family? Dr. Sydney, I mean," the stranger referred to Older Syd.   
  
"Yes, he was my grandfather," Sydney Catherine replied, "although I didn't find out for a long time." She stared down at the soggy, wet ground. "Sorry, it's very complicated. I wouldn't expect you to understand."  
  
The man shook his head and smiled. "I might surprise you."  
  
"I'm Sydney Catherine Charles," she introduced herself to the young man, hoping his identity could shed some light on the mystery forming in her mind.  
  
"Dr. Michael Tashman," he said, shaking her hand. "I'm very pleased to meet you."  
  
They chatted on the way back to the convent house, but all Sydney could do was wonder where she'd heard the name Tashman before.  
  
Jarod was sitting next to the door, flipping through a book he had brought with him to read on the plane when Sydney and Dr. Tashman appeared in the doorway. He looked up from his book and then stared in shock. "Sydney," Dr. Charles began in a strange, bewildered voice, "who is your friend?"   
  
"I'm Dr. Tashman," Michael extended his hand in greeting.   
  
"Tashman?" It was as if Jarod had seen a ghost.  
  
"Yes, sir. That's my name," the young man replied.  
  
"I'm Dr. Charles. Sit down for a minute," Jarod offered Michael the chair next to him. "I'd love to talk. " He glanced across the room at his wife. Maggie was talking with Deb and Laura. She wasn't paying any attention to what was going on at the front of the room. Good, Jarod thought. It was best for now that he keep this to himself.   
  
Not wanting her father to know she was eavesdropping, Sydney busied herself looking through the books on the coffee table.   
Michael sat down in the chair. "You seem terribly familiar," he began. "Are you from Blue Cove?"  
  
"Sort of," Jarod answered. "I haven't lived here in years. My family and I moved to Colorado, where I have a practice, about seventeen years ago. And you?"  
  
"I'm from upstate New York," Michael replied. "I've been one of the head scientists at the Green River Laboratories here in Blue Cove. To tell you the truth," he lowered his voice, feeling instinctively that he could trust Dr. Charles, "I'm not sure where I'm from. I was adopted when I was a baby, by one of the sisters at St. Catherine of the Hills. I only know the first names of my parents, and that they were from Blue Cove, Delaware."  
  
"Don't tell me," Jarod said in a low voice. "Your mother was a woman named Brigitte."  
  
Michael shook his head. "No, her name is Margaret. And my father is named Jarod. At least that's what the man who brought me to the convent told them. He was a gifted man, my mother says. Angelo knew what others could only guess."  
  
Jarod dropped his book onto the wood floor, which made a sound that echoed throughout the room. "The baby," he whispered.  
  
"Jarod!" Maggie called to her husband. "Is something wrong?" She looked at her daughter. "Sydney? What's going on?"  
  
Sydney tried to find her voice. "Mom, I think there's someone here you'd better meet," she said.  
  
"You were born in the year 2000?" Maggie asked in disbelief.  
  
"Yes, ma'am. I went to medical school when I was fourteen. People tell me I'm advanced for my age," Michael replied.  
  
"I see," Maggie answered. "Well, I don't know how to tell you this, but I think..." her voice began to waver as tears filled her eyes, "you're my brother. My baby brother, who I thought was missing or dead or something for eighteen years. Angelo told us something about the baby, but we could never find you. I can't believe it! You're my brother!"  
  
Jarod put his hand on top of Maggie's. "Not your brother, Maggie. Our son. Angelo took him to Harriett on the night before The Centre was destroyed. He knew what was going to happen and knew he'd be safe with her, far away from here. I'm sure he wanted to tell you, but then..."   
  
Michael's eyes shone with tears. "How can this be?"  
  
"The Centre kept genetic samples from all of the key players," Jarod explained. "That would certainly include your mother and I. We were both special children. That's why The Centre wanted to create you, so you could follow in our footsteps of captivity. But then, a wonderful, brave man named Angelo, and Dr. Sydney, the man whose memory we're honoring today, changed all of that. For you, for the other children."  
  
"I've heard stories about The Centre," Michael said. "But I was afraid to believe that they were all entirely true."   
"They're all true," Sydney offered. "I know how you must be feeling, my brother and I just learned about it last month."  
  
Kyle nodded. "You mean your younger brother!"  
  
"That's right," Sydney said softly. "I always wondered what it would be like to have an older brother."  
  
Michael smiled kindly, showing his resemblance to his grandfather Sydney more in mannerisms than in physical features. "You'd be amazed to see what happened afterward."  
  
"Afterward?" Maggie asked, afraid to envision what would have come afterward for the site of The Centre.  
  
"Yes," Michael's words were reassuring. "It's now the home of the Green River Laboratories, where I work. But lives are saved, not taken. We've worked on many of the scientific developments of the last ten years that have made the world better for everyone. It's a very good place. I can show you, if you like."  
  
"Yes," Maggie declared. "I think I would like that very much."   
Half an hour later, they were driving past the outskirts of Blue Cove, toward the ocean. The familiar sight of the place Jarod had escaped so many years ago sickened him, but he continued, gritting his teeth in firm resolve.  
  
"Look!" Maggie was amazed. "It IS a different place!" Where the foreboding complex had once stood was a futuristic building, reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture, full of energy and life. Everything was changed. Just as a change had taken place in the spiritual atmosphere of the town, the Delaware coast was also transformed.   
  
Jarod stumbled out of the car, knelt down on the ground and wept. Never in his wildest dreams had he ever imagined that this very ground would be liberated from the evil that had permeated it for so long.  
  
"Come in, I'd like you to meet the people I work with," Michael invited his newfound family both into the doors of the laboratory but also into the promising future.   
  
April 21st, 2018  
Grandmother Catherine's Summer House,  
Blue Cove, Delaware  
  
Dear Diary,  
If I am to be a novelist, like my grandfather Syd said I am to be, I need to write down all of these details that have taken place over the last month. No one in my family would have guessed that Kyle and I would have a brother we'd never known about before. It's strange, we haven't known Michael very long, but it feels like we have known him forever.   
  
The best part is that the Green River Lab needed a new president, and Dad was the perfect candidate. Of course, it is a big change for us, but something inside tells me it's all going to work out perfectly. This meant we had to move to Delaware. I felt horrible about it at first, because of Laura and all my friends in Colorado. But then, you wouldn't believe what happened! Laura is moving here also! Her father, Jimmy Broots, is going to marry one of the research scientists here in Blue Cove. Her name is Anita Montgomery. She's from Texas and is tall and has curly red hair. She and Jimmy fell in love when he was helping the Lab with a computer problem. I think it's wonderful, Laura will have a mother again, and we'll still get to go to school together! (Anita will certainly be surprised at how well Jimmy can cook, given his years of practice when he helped my grandfather.) Mom is going to teach journalism at a small private college a few miles away. I guess all those years managing a newspaper (as well as pretending to work at one) paid off. She is also going to start writing some books, along with me. as she's discovered that we have the gift of words in common...  
  
Sometimes I think about how simple our lives used to be in Colorado. I wonder what my life would be like if I'd never discovered the truth about my parents. Whenever I remember the story my parents told me about the scrolls on the Isle of Carthis, a shiver runs up and down my spine. Was all of this just the outcome of prophecy, or was it something else?   
  
  
Sydney laid down her pen and glanced at the clock. She had a vocal lesson in ten minutes and did not want to be late. As she was closing her journal, a piece of paper fell out from the back cover. Sydney bent to pick it up, recognizing it as the extra memorial program given to her by the sisters at Older Syd's funeral. Inside was a handwritten verse: "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."  
  
  
Fin 


End file.
